With the rapid expansion of wireless technology, many hand-held mobile devices are now capable of various applications, such as performing stock trades, sending/receiving text messages, etc. As wireless technology becomes more pervasive, it opens up new windows for companies and content providers to deliver personalized and localized information to mobile device holders. For example, a mobile device holder on the move may need information such as local weather, local maps, and/or directions to local hotels and restaurants, and it is desirable to deliver this information directly to the mobile device.
Companies and content providers do not usually know what information a mobile device holder may desire at a particular time and location. Some companies and content providers have designed applications to push information to mobile devices based on the assumption that at least some of the device holders are at locations where the information is useful. However, as usually happens, a large percentage of this information is not useful to the vast majority of mobile device users. This unwanted information can flood the mobile devices and consume bandwidth, memory, and battery power.
For these reasons, it is more efficient for a mobile device user to initiate the delivery of desired information, for example, by entering the universal resource locater (“URL”) of a website holding the desired information. On the other hand, a mobile device user may be limited by the capabilities of the mobile device. For example, a cell phone has a small monochrome screen and no convenient way to input long text strings. The user of the cell phone may find it easier to dial “411” than to input names or addresses via multiple button presses in order to make use of a wireless directory look-up service. Also, much like the current concerns with people driving and using a cell phone, there are safety issues related to people in automobiles trying to obtain content on the Internet by entering long strings of URLs. Moreover, a URL is often not easy to memorize. Therefore, a user may have to go through lengthy searches on the Internet to find a desired website. These searches consume time and battery power, and are not practical when the user is driving a vehicle.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method and system for providing desired content to a mobile device holder without the aforementioned disadvantages.